Why Do Some Star Wars Fans Hate The Last Jedi?

We have some ideas why that may be...

By
Scott Collura

Since Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened last night to huge numbers, it's become clear that not everyone who's seeing the film is terribly fond of it. While critics seem to have been charmed by writer-director Rian Johnson's take on Luke, Rey, Kylo Ren, Leia, and the rest -- the film currently has a 93% fresh critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- the audience score on that same site is sitting at just 56%. And while the latter number is not a particularly scientific way to appraise a film's popularity (with just over 67,000 ratings at the moment, this is not a large sampling of the bigger worldwide audience), all one needs to do is peek into a messageboard or jump on Twitter today to find that, for some fans, the Force is not at all with The Last Jedi.

So why is this film eliciting such a strong response? I have a few ideas, but in order to discuss them we'll have to talk full spoilers. You stand warned!

Full spoilers follow for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Snoke's Dead, Baby. Snoke's Dead.

One of the bigger surprises in the film comes when Supreme Leader Snoke -- that CGI confection dreamed up by J.J. Abrams and company for The Force Awakens as a sort of Next Gen Emperor Palpatine -- bites the big one at the hands of his apprentice Kylo Ren. When faced with the prospect of killing Rey, at the behest of Snoke, the former Ben Solo instead chooses to plant a lightsaber blade right into his boss' side. Ouch.

Johnson's decision to get rid of Snoke has rattled fans who have spent the past two years since TFA theorizing about and puzzling over the mysterious character's origins and true nature. Was he Ezra Bridger from the Rebels animated series, all grown up and deformed? Did he have some active role in the original trilogy or prequel era that would soon be revealed? How did he become so powerful with the Force and ascend to be the leader of the First Order? Who was this freaking guy?!

Some fans felt that they were owed answers to these questions, and if you became invested in Snoke between films it must be frustrating to see the character just dropped. But clearly Johnson had no interest in giving any answers in regards to the Supreme Leader; it's pretty obvious that the filmmaker wanted to -- and basically did -- jettison several of Abrams' additions to the pantheon (neither Phasma nor Maz Kanata fare much better than Snoke in this film). But it's an interesting situation to ponder. Did Johnson owe viewers some details about a character like Snoke -- who was so cloaked in and, really, built on mystery -- before killing him off? Perhaps. At the same time, it's clear that Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had no real game plan for at least some of these characters beyond The Force Awakens, so why shouldn't Johnson be free to come in and tell the version of Snoke's story that he wants? Which, as it turns out, is the version where Snoke gets cut in half before we find out anything about him.

These Aren't the Parents You're Looking For

The disposition of Rey's parents, another mystery teased since The Force Awakens, seems to be resolved here with the not very earth-shattering revelation that Mr. and Mrs. Rey were "nobodies," junkers who sold their young daughter for drinking money. As with Snoke, Rey's parentage not turning out to be some crazy reference to past Star Wars mythology is difficult for some to swallow. Again, there had been so many theories and expectations built up around this Abrams mystery that the apparent truth of it all plays as disappointing for many. Indeed, some fans believe that Kylo Ren's story about Rey's folks is just a fake-out and that we will yet learn the truth about them in Episode IX. And who knows? With Abrams returning to helm that film, things may very well play out that way.

And yet, thematically this reveal ties into The Last Jedi -- and also the bigger Star Wars story. Johnson is obviously interested in the idea that heroes can, and often do, come from nothing. Witness the orphan child at the end of the film, abused and enslaved for the moment, but endowed with the power of the Force and looking off at the stars and the future. Even Luke Skywalker is descended from slaves; his father, Anakin, and his grandmother were bought and sold as well. But Anakin grew from those very low beginnings to become a powerful Jedi, and then the ultimate villain, before redeeming himself in his final moments. So is the idea that Rey, too, is just a "nobody" all that far-fetched?

Luke Gets Force-Ghosted

Bringing back the classic original characters of Han, Luke and Leia was always going to be fraught with dangers. How do you recapture the magic of these iconic figures decades after we last saw them and when they're well past their prime? Abrams mostly pulled if off with Han and Leia in Force Awakens, but Luke -- aside from a brief, silent appearance at the end of that film -- was left off the table until now, thereby building up even more for viewers the anticipation of seeing him in action.

And so the Luke that we finally got here had a lot to live up to. But of course, Johnson wanted to do something different with the character and not just rehash what had come before. This was a common complaint about Force Awakens, as we all know -- that Abrams recycled concepts from A New Hope. In avoiding that trap, though, it seems that Johnson has not hit all the marks that some fans expected and/or hoped for in regards to Luke. He doesn't pull a Star Destroyer out of orbit using the Force, he doesn't get into an awesome lightsaber duel... heck, he doesn't even leave Ahch-To. Also, he dies quietly while seeing a vision of the suns setting on the homeworld he long ago left behind.

It's easy to see how the anticipation for something like the ultimate laser sword duel between Luke and Kylo could be strong. But in this case the filmmaker chose to portray Luke's awesome power with the Force differently, and also in a manner that was -- for many other viewers -- extremely satisfying and dramatically surprising. Adding to it all is the fact that The Last Jedi, and Johnson, has killed off Luke Skywalker, a hero for so many of us for so very, very long. In a very real way, this starts to become personal.

These are the three major story points that a chunk of fandom seems to be struggling with today, though there have been other gripes as well of course. That's part and parcel of any movie, especially one that exists at the nexus of the pop-culture conversation like Star Wars. Of course, Star Wars is also an acutely emotional experience for many, many people, and so it only makes sense that their reactions to it would also be so emotional.

In the end, everyone is free to walk away from The Last Jedi -- or any work of art -- hating it, loving it, not caring about it one way or another, or whatever. It doesn't matter if the critics loved it if you personally didn't like it, and the opposite is true as well. Nor does it matter if your friends like it and you don't, or vice versa. But we must also remember that a filmmaker like Rian Johnson is free to make the movie that he wants to make, and that he isn't obligated to give you or me or anyone else the movie we think we want or that we've built up in our heads over the years. The best bet for any fan is to let a film like The Last Jedi wash over you and do your best to connect to it -- kind of like the Force. But if you can't, that's fine too. Just don't turn into the next Kylo Ren.